I once worked in the nineteenth century, as a docent in a museum dedicated to portraying life in the United States at the time of the Civil War. As part of my job, I occasionally performed magic lantern shows for the visiting public. The magic lantern was the granddaddy of the twentieth-century slide projector (a device now almost as obsolete as the magic lantern) and

used hand-painted glass slides to achieve its effects. Traditionally, two magic lanterns were used in such shows, so that the image from one slide could be superimposed over the image from another, thereby creating an illusion of motion - many years before the invention of true cinema. A sample is included below, in the form of two antique glass slides combined in a looping GIF image. I’m doing this in the absence of any book news (the Time Travel book is about to go to the copy editor; the Sofa book is selling reasonably well, thank you) and also because it’s been a long February and I’m feeling nostalgic.

The Legend of Washington's Tomb

It is said that on midnight every February 11,the anniversary of George Washington's birth(if you're using the Julian calendar, as whatJohn Lennon fan doesn't?)the ghost of George Washington emerges from his tomb, looks around, sees his shadow, runs back in the tomb,and we have another six weeks of winter.

End of Legend

It's hard to believe, but some people found my magic lantern shows amusing. A somewhat lengthy excerpt from one can be found here. Some of the images you've seen elsewhere on this website are from antique magic lantern slides, of which I have a modest collection.In case you were wondering.